PH345: Winter 2025
World’s fair held April-November 1900
“Countries from around the world were invited by France to showcase their achievements and cultures”
Thomas J. Calloway and Booker T. Washington petitioned US government to include exhibit dedicated to social and economic progress of Black Americans
Invited former classmate W.E.B DuBois to create social study of African American life
Black American sociologist, historian, novelist, and poet
Helped reorient field of sociology to be based on empiric data and charts
First African American to receive PhD from Harvard University
DuBois and students from Atlanta University created two sets of infographics and data visualizations
Mix of traditional and unique bar plots, line plots, and pie charts with intentional use of color
The Black race was not going extinct (contrast with social Darwinism)
Highlighted Black American progress in spite of slavery, Jim Crow, and white supremacy (contrast with imperalist ethos of Exposition: lifting lower races out of barbarism)
Black Americans (and all those of African descent) had their own history, civilization, and culture, both within and separate from white America
(wrap into )
Battle-Baptiste, W. and Rusert, B. eds., 2018. WEB Du Bois’s data portraits: Visualizing black America. Chronicle Books.
Du Bois, W.E.B., 1900. African American photographs assembled for 1900 Paris Exposition. Library of Congress, Washington, DC online